DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
The US Navy says it is investigating the source and destination of a large cache of Chinese rifles confiscated from a flagless dhow in the Arabian Sea on Friday.A photo released by the US Navy shows a cache of weapons laid on the deck of the USS Monterey missile destroyer warship. They were recovered from an unflagged dhow.
The US Navy says it is investigating the
source and destination of a large cache of Chinese rifles confiscated from a
flagless dhow in the Arabian Sea on Friday.
A statement from the Public Affairs Section of the US Navy
said the origin of the cache will also be investigated through a multiagency
operation even though the weapons will be destroyed.
“The cache of weapons included dozens of advanced
Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault
rifles, and hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades launchers,” said a statement posted on a US government news website
for navy operations.
“Other weapon components included advanced optical sights,”
the statement added.
Such kinds of weapons normally require
government-to-government purchases, but could still be accessed by militant
groups often through smuggling.
The dhow carrying the weapons was spotted on the night of
May 7 by the US guided-missile cruiser USS Monterey (CG 61). The stateless dhow
was travelling in international waters in an area in the North Arabian Sea,
which borders the Somali sea.
Neither Russia nor the Chinese government immediately
responded to the findings. But the cache could point to a series of illegal
networks that have worked to defeat arms embargoes or illicit arms trading in
the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, where conflict has continued.
In Somalia, an arms embargo has been imposed since 1993 to
control access to weapons by warring parties. This seized cache, if headed to
Somalia, would normally violate the ban by the UN Security Council, including
restrictions on purchase, since 1992.
With time, the Council has varied the embargo by allowing
certain weapons to be bought for the government in Somalia as long as
authorised personnel obtain permission to purchase weapons that are allowed.
Nonetheless, investigations by a UN Panel of Experts on
Somalia have, since 2016, reported incidents of arms purchased through
government authorities being found in the hands of militants, as well as
weapons illegally purchased.
In 2016, the Australian Navy impounded weapons it said had
been headed for Somalia north of the Indian Ocean near the Arabian Sea. They
included about 2,000 AK-47 rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenades launchers and
49 PKM machine guns, all of which were in violation of the embargo.
Australia, India, US, UK, France and a number of other
Western powers routinely run a coalition of sea security operations to secure
navigation lanes in the Indian Ocean. Initially, they targeted pirates, but now
operate to guard against illicit trade in weapons and other harmful cargo,
which Washington sees as necessary to ensure unhindered commercial shipping,
prevention of terrorism or drug trafficking.
The US says it conducts such operations with partners to
determine patterns of life in the maritime as well as to enhance
mariner-to-mariner relations.
“These operations reassure allies and partners and preserve
freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce.”
A statement from the US Navy said USS Monterey and its embarked
US Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team (AIT) “discovered the illicit cargo
during a routine flag verification boarding conducted in international water in
accordance with customary international law.”
“The original source and intended destination of the
materiel is currently under investigation. The materiel is in US custody
awaiting final disposition.”
Photos released on Saturday showed thousands of rifles from
an operation conducted under the US Fifth Fleet and which lasted about 36
hours.
The US Navy said it confiscated the weapons but let the
crew free after determining the dhow was still safe to use.
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